How did you become a fan of the Muppets?

[Gelfling Girl]

I was just wondering.

This is how I got so obsessed:):

I was a fan when I was younger until seeing MV3D (because I was so young, Waldo scared me. Now, however, he's not quite my favorite, but I still think he's cool) Then, a year or so ago, a museum had a Jim Henson exhibit that my mom went to with me, and they had a section on Dark Crystal and Labyrinth that interested me, so I saw those two movies, and basically the obsession was (re)started by that.

[Count von Count]

You Know I don't really know how that happened.
The Muppets Have Allways Been There.
I think- I just Grown Up With Them And Never Grew Out.

If you understand what I'm trying to say.

[BobThePizzaBoy]

Being born in 1991, I was born in the midst of the home video boom and right at the start of the Jim Henson Video era which meant I had about 74% of the titles that were released by Henson in that era. Naturally, the first TV show I remember watching is Sesame Street and it was my favorite show all through my childhood. I have faint memories of watching The Muppet Show on Nickelodeon but I never really got to see it until Odyssey started showing Henson stuff. I must have taped re-runs nearly every day. As I got into first and second grade, Pokemon and VeggieTales came into my life and the Muppets went on the back-burner for a while (especially before I saw much TMS). Around Christmas 1998, my grandpa got me Sesame Street Unpaved which started an interest in puppetry but seeing Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland in theaters in 1999 really sealed the deal and brough about this now-10 year obsession.

[anytimepally]

My dad made us watch every single episode of Fraggle Rock during its run. He still loves it.

[ohtherain]

My Muppet fandom experience is much shorter than the rest. I had basic knowledge of the Muppets from my birth in 1995 through 2008 (I could name Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Animal) but in 2008 my interest started to grow because I saw those terrible Disney Channel inserts inappropriately named "Studio DC: Almost Live". I hated the acting of most of the real actors but was amused by the Muppets. By the end of the year I started visiting their Disney page and watching their videos on YouTube. I could name Rizzo, Sweetums, the Chef, Sam the Eagle, Statler and Waldorf, Dr. Bunsen and Beaker, and even Rowlf. What really got it started was the receiving of The Muppet Show Season One box set for Christmas. I was sick for the next week or so with a bad allergy so I watched nearly every episode. 6 DVDs, 3 CDs, one photo puppet, one plush, and 27 action figures later, I am happy to love the Muppets.

[HootsytheOwl]

Hello everybodeee!:super:

I have always watched the Muppets...from age 3 ( is how far back I can remember) I saw Sesame Street, and then watched that and the Muppet Show. When Fraggle Rock came out of HBO, my brother and I never missed an episode! ;) I also enjoyed the Muppet Movies and Follow That Bird when they came out. Now my Muppet viewing/Sesame Street stuff collection keeps that wonderful time of my life alive. Too good to pass it by.

Your dear friend,
Kitt

[frogboy4]

I remember watching and enjoying the Muppet Show more than Sesame Street. In 1979 at the age of 5 I remember watching the Muppet Movie in the theater. I remember the drive there, the drive home, the conversations I had with my folks and fearing in the middle of the movie when the Swedish Chef breaks the projector that it was really broken and we'd miss the rest of the show. After that there was Caper, Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, Manhattan, Labyrinth and other goodness, but I will always be a Muppet Show/Muppet Movie fan first. I like classic goodness of it and enjoy seeing the Muppet *puppets* continue the tradition.

[GonzoLover85]

I grew up on the street, Sesame Street that is. Bert, Ernie, Grover and the gang taught me how to count, my letters and many small words; to the point in fact I was able to skip kindergarten and go straight to grade 1.

Also, as a child, my mom would let me either watch an hour of tv a day, or one movie. I usually chose 1 movie; which usually ended up being the Muppet Movie. I went through 4 VHS copies of it (the tape always ended up wearing out).

From there on, the Muppets were always apart of my life. But I would say my true, hardcore fandom came about when Palisades started producing their figures. After collecting those, several albums, all of the films, the photo-puppets, and building a muppet themed jukebox, I'd say I'm a bonafied Muppet-fan.

** On a side note. Star Trek fans are called Trekkers/Trekkies... is there a special name for muppet fans?

[Count von Count]

** On a side note. Star Trek fans are called Trekkers/Trekkies... is there a special name for muppet fans?

None that I know of.

[GonzoLover85]

None that I know of.

Maybe it's time that we had one?

[minor muppetz]

Man, I've been a fan for so long it's hard to really determine how I became such a fan. My family did buy me some Muppet toys and merchandise as a very young kid, probably a baby. And I saw Muppet Babies during most of it's original run. Though I was still a fan when I started school, it seems like my fandom waned a bit until the thrid grade. My grandparents got me all of the Muppet Stories books in the second grade, and I watched A Muppet Family Christmas a lot during the summer, and then on my first day of the third grade we did some project where we looked through magazines. One had a group picture of the Muppets (the one found on the last page of the Muppet Hits booklet, the back of the 25th anniversary CD, the paper thingy found inside The Best of the Muppet Show DVDs, and so on), and I became obsessed witht eh fact that the Muppets looked different than they did in MFC, so I decided to watch more Muppet stuff. I'd watch my copies of TMM and GMC after not seeing them in a long time, and since I hardly had any other Muppet videos I rented whatever I could at my local video store, which had four o the Playhouse video compilations. And this was at a time when Nickelodeon started airing Muppet specials frequently as well as the time of Jim Henson Video and Jim Henson Records. A very good time indeed.

[Gelfling Girl]

Maybe it's time that we had one?
How about "Muppites"? :)

[WhiteRabbit]

I mades a thread similar to this. O.o (http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=37076)

[dwmckim]

Being born in 1971, Sesame Street was a huge part of my life - my parents told me that as a baby i was just transfixed by them and i would giggle uncontrollably when they were on - it was literally a "from the beginning" love.

If you've read my blog, you'll know that i'm very much in favor of the term "Muppet freak" to describe fans...(1) Valerie Harper uses this term to describe her fandom in her TMS appearance (with an appropriate response from George) (2) "Freaks" just seems so appropriate given the Muppets' nature and (3) Given all the news about Jason Segel's involvement in their big relaunch, it takes on another level of meaning since Segel got his big boost from "Freaks and Geeks"

[vettech28]

I used to have two Muppet videos, "Meet The Muppets" and "More Muppets Please" and a video of four Sesame Street episodes that my parents recorded for me when I was little, but I don't have it anymore. I think those things started my interest in the Muppets and Jim Henson. The more I watched them, the more I enjoyed them and the more I learned about Jim and his team over time. Now I know what an impact he's made on television and in the hearts of many that watched the Muppets growing up. I guess that's why I love them so much, they'll never be gone from my life.

[Nick22]

when i was little, i LOVED sesame street. it was one of the only things i watched (along with pooh and disney movies). and then once i got older, i stopped watching sesame street. i always knew about the muppets, but never rully payed attention to them. and then i was watching disney channel and the muppets' wizard of oz came on, and i loved it., so i got online and started looking up stuff about them and started leraning about the beginnings and stuff. then a couple weeks later, i did a report on jim henson for school, and my obsession just increased more and more from there.

[Gelfling Girl]

then a couple weeks later, i did a report on jim henson for school, and my obsession just increased more and more from there.
We haven't been given the opportunity to write a report on a historical person of our choice yet, but if the teachers ever give us a chance to do such a project, I'm already working on my Richard Hunt report. ;):flirt::eek:

[Colbynfriends]

Lets see.....
I remember being exposed to the Muppets from SST (or SS whichever were using at the moment) ever since I was born, or close to it. I still remember the opening from that time, it was the one where Elmo was wearing the yellow baseball cap, and Cookie Monster was in a submarine. Then I also had Its the Muppets, and More Muppets Please, along with at least two SST VHSs (Silly Songs, and the 25th Anniversary one). I remember going to a thrift store and getting The Muppet Movie (it was a toss up between that and the Super Mario Bros. Movie. I think I made a good choice. ;)) I remember that it was the 1993 clamshell cased version, because it had a preview of Fraggle Rock, which I really wanted to see. It took about two more years from that point (maybe 2000?) to see Fraggle Rock. I got a VHS from either Hollywood Video, or Blockbuster. I do remeber it was in the wrong case. Insted of volume one with Beginngings, and Friend in Need, it was volume three with The Great Radish Famine, and The Minstrels. I also, when I was little, liked to roam around on MC, and its fourms, which helped tremendously. Long story short, this lead to that, that lead to this, and here I am.

[JEANYLASER]

I love the muppet sence I was a little girl when I saw Sesame Street and I when I grow older I love them all!

[Scooterthegofer]

I remember seeing "The Great Muppet Caper" a long time (it seems) ago, but my fandom began when my art teacher introduced me to the audio version of "Mahna Mahna." Now I know all the lyrics to this slightly-different-from-the-Muppet-show version. (For fear of boring the reader, I won't tell.) I didn't know who was singing it, but it was fun imagining it. It all went up from there. I discovered Muppet Wiki by accident and now know more than I need to know. And now I have discovered Muppet Central, perhaps the nicest site and the nicest forum i've ever been on. And one more thing: when I first saw Scooter, I thought he was a Ron Weasley parody Muppet, especially because he was telling "15 seconds to curtain" to Angus Macgonagle (whose last name is pronounced the same way as that of a Hogwarts professor.);)

[Gelfling Girl]

when I first saw Scooter, I thought he was a Ron Weasley parody Muppet, especially because he was telling "15 seconds to curtain" to Angus Macgonagle (whose last name is pronounced the same way as that of a Hogwarts professor.);)
Harry Potter totally ROCKS!

[Nekoshema]

gee, as long as i remember i loved muppets... my mom was [is] a muppet's fan, so she use to let us watch it when she had to make dinner or something. i grew up on the stuff. i guess if i never saw Scooter ;) i wouldn't have been such a crazy fan as i am. i mean, they're all good, but something about Scooter makes me go crazy and revert back to a four year old. [no joke, i se him and scream Scooter! XD *hugs pillow* ;)]